Newf- vegan or vegetarian?? And I definitely think how you are raised greatly influences what you eat. My father grew up raising his own chickens and cattle and slaughtering them himself. As I said previously all the men in my family hunt, too. We used to have a gopher problem and I remember my uncle shooting them then my cousin and I would race his hunting dog to see who could get to it first. Of course, even if we won, the dog always picked it up and brought it back!

Lola- as I said in my previous post it can be healthy but many vegans/vegetarians do not eat enough variety to gain nutrition... if you talk to a doctor/nutritionist, they will tell you you have to receive these vitamins, minerals, and proteins else where and will lay out a diet of what you should eat to replace it. Unfortunately, many people do not consult with a professional, and end up harming their bodies! Yikes!

And meat can be bad, too. Big Macs, tacos, steak the size of your plate every night, etc is bad in many, many, many ways! But 3 oz of chicken with dinner, egg whites in the morning, and other slimmer, smaller portions are very healthy. People don't understand portion control... in the morning I enjoy cereal with milk, I like cashews as a snack or cucumber, for lunch I enjoy salads or a sandwich (something light like that), then dinner I enjoy some kind of meat protein whether it is salmon, chicken, or beef in an amount about the size of a deck of cards (recommended amount) with something like brocolli and some kind of fruit. That is a very healthy diet!

What isn't healthy is eggs, bacon, sausage, and pancakes for breakfast. Snack is sugary granola bar. Lunch is Caesar salad with fried&breaded chicken strips. Dinner is a slab of steak over half the plate with french bread and a tiny scoop of green beans.

I find there has to be a balance. I am a meat eater, but usually I am not having actual meat unless dinner time and I am at a great weight, no heart troubles, blood normal.

I do have an insulin problem at times, and must eat jello. So there's NO WAY I could be vegan cuz jello has 'animal by-products, too.

I am carnivorous! My friend is a vegetarian so it's nice when we can eat meals together, XD!

I don't mind vegetarians, but I've seen...a...trend that most VEGANS are fairly pretentious about their food choices. One girl came with us to a restaurant and ordered a vegetarian dish, she found (LITERALLY) a speck no larger than a cookie crumb of something that only "looked like" meat (to me it looked like a seed from bell peppers) and she just LOST IT. The manager came over and apologized with the chef and offered to remake the dish in front of her and/or offer her a $75 gift card to the restaurant. Instead of accepting it gracefully she proceeded to cuss out the manager loudly and yell at the top of her voice at what a "terrible establishment" this is and how vegans are discriminated >_>.

Another story was when I helped my vegetarian friend (mentioned above) make some vegan cupcakes for a bake sale. I was happy to support her because I didn't even realize that vegans couldn't eat regular baked goods. While we were selling them, we had a little sign beside them saying that they were vegan cupcakes. A few vegetarians came by and happily bought them, saying that they were trying to go vegan for a month and wanted to start off with something yummy (a guy came back later complimenting us on how nice it tasted). However every single vegan person that came by either yelled at us for mocking them (apparently putting up a sign saying that they're vegan is like some sort of disability????) or refusing to believe that they're vegan cupcakes (even though on the back of the sign we had the ingredients, all vegan-approved stuff) or complaining as to the limited vegan cupcake choice. One girl even ranted about how many animals suffered to make the regular cupcakes =_=

I actually have great respect for vegetarians and vegans, altering their food choice based on either health or moral reasons. Personally, I have no problem with the killing of animals IF their entire body is put to good use. For example, we use the entire cow's body for almost everything, from medicines to something simple like chewing gum. I just don't approve of people needlessly slaughtering, say, an elephant JUST to sell ivory. If we were to eat the elephant too, or use their bodies for something else, then, in moderation, I don't mind.

I decided to go vegan when I was around 12-13...I am now 23 (24 in Aug.). I have never been anemic or vitamin deficient..
I get a yearly checkup just like anyone should.
It is not too hard to meet nutritional requirements as long as a well variety of vegan foods are consumed.

I decided to go vegan when I was around 12-13...I am now 23 (24 in Aug.). I have never been anemic or vitamin deficient..
I get a yearly checkup just like anyone should.
It is not too hard to meet nutritional requirements as long as a well variety of vegan foods are consumed.

Congrats, Littlebitty! And I'm glad you understand when going vegan you need a very wide range of foods or you will lose efficiency and health of your body.

There is a difference in VEGANS 1) They are doing it for a legitimate cause, moral belief, or health disorder or 2) They are "jumping on the bandwagon" and are trying to seem "higher up" than us "meat lovers". It seems everyone on here is #1! Those cupcake lecturers seemed like #2.... >.<

Pancakes are umm... Ok? Not a stack 5 high with white flour and syrup drenching them! But 2 wheat pancakes with some blueberries and light syrup are fine! I don't eat pancakes much, but uh, I HATE wheat pancakes... YUCK! I do enjoy 2 white flour ones on occasion, though.

For breakfast I either enjoy Special K Chocolate Cereal, toast with peanut butter/honey or peanut butter/pumpkin butter. On occasion I "splurge" with something super yummy and incredibley bad... Like today we enjoyed a breakfast burrito from a local Mexican restaurant. I mean, splurging is fine. But we all know that person who feels if they do not wake up to a stack of pancakes to the sky, 5 pieces of bacon, sausage links, some scrambled eggs, & toast they will throw a fit! =.= Uhh... ya, no!

As for lunch, those freakin' Chicken Caesar Salads are ridiculous in calorie count. You might as well have a hamburger from McDonald's! Yes, THAT BAD! D: We have a local cafe/bakery that we've been going to lately that serve half salads... Usually some greens, light dressing, and a bunch of vegetables! Yum! If around the bf's house simon (a ramen noodle dish) is the go-to which cannot be healthy at all! Or I enjoy a bean&cheese burrito or something... It is usually very basic!

Nuts, yogurt, recommended on bag portion of chips, cheese, etc. are all great snack options... Even protein bars! I find the Special K "crisps" to be delightful! ^.^ Grapes, too! I cannot resist me a good tomato either.... Heheh! C:

You could eat anything anywhere in moderation. "Diets" are never diets, they are binge eating waiting to happen... Honestly, I have never been over 125lbs and that was when a medication I was on made me gain 15lbs... I usually steady 114-118 so I am NOT one to talk. But my mother struggles with weight a lot and so do many people around me. The best diets are the ones you eat healthy 75% of the time but with the good stuff! Then the other 25% you enjoy yourself. Cannot forget that! Just in moderation...

A family friend used to freeze "fun size" Snickers bars (what is so "fun" about them being an inch long?! HA!) so when she wanted a sugary snack it would take her long to eat them making her feel satisfied. When I want a "treat" some sweet yogurt, juice, or a small all-fruit/juice smoothie really satisfies me.

I just think even though I'm skinny, I should still watch what I eat... Things can bite ya in the butt years later! ;) Not to mention I have incredible GI tract problems, too. *sigh* I cannot eat processed foods a lot because a lot of times my stomach just can't handle it!! HA!

That said, I also like to eat them. ._. I don't view myself as being any better or worse than other animals. Animals eat each other all the time, so if I am an animal designed for an omnivorous diet, then I don't see why I should feel bad about it. Certainly it depressed me that I can't live without killing things, but there isn't much I could to about it.

I mean, you never hear about how people murder innocent plants and devour them all the time... we're always dousing weeds with pesticides or yanking them just because they're not pretty or they're not where we want them to be... I guess I sort of gave up and just decided to live once I realized there was no way I could treat every living thing fairly. Now I just give whatever respect I can.

Register Now

In order to be able to post messages on the Betta Fish and Betta Fish Care forums, you must first register.
Please enter your desired user name, your email address and other required details in the form below.

User Name:

Password

Please enter a password for your user account. Note that passwords are case-sensitive.

Password:

Confirm Password:

Email Address

Please enter a valid email address for yourself.

Email Address:

OR

Log-in

User Name

Password

Remember Me?

Human Verification

In order to verify that you are a human and not a spam bot, please enter the answer into the following box below based on the instructions contained in the graphic.